LDC has promoted Aylesh Patel (1), who took part in the faculty’s Prospecting For Deals in 2024 webinar last month, to partner. He joined LDC in 2015, from EY’s M&A team in London, where he spent five years and trained as a chartered accountant. Based in the Reading office, he has succeeded Lawrence Dean as head of the south region.

Chris Baker (2) has also been promoted to partner in the firm’s Reading office, with a focus on the technology sector. He joined LDC in 2015, from Grant Thornton, where he spent nine years in its M&A team, covering the Thames Valley. Prior to that he trained as an ACA with Clark Howes. 

James Garland (3) has been promoted to investment director, moving from Bristol to Reading. He has been with LDC seven years.

Francesca Speke (4), who joined the London office in 2021 after three years at HSBC, has been promoted to investment manager. 

Investment director Jacob Leone (5) has relocated from Manchester to Reading. He joined the North West team four years ago from Grant Thornton, where he worked in M&A after qualifying as an accountant.

August Equity has recruited Sam Sinclair (1) as talent director, from NVM Private Equity, where he spent five years. He will support August’s portfolio with key appointments during the investment period and manage an evolving network of advisers, consultants and non-executives. He previously worked for Latitude Executive Consulting, Russell Reynolds Associates and Korn Ferry.

Harry Caro (2) joins as investment executive from Alantra, after three years in its London M&A team.

Professor Steve Young joins Amadeus Capital Partners as a venture partner in its early-stage deep-tech investing team. He is an emeritus professor of information engineering at the University of Cambridge with research interests in AI and machine learning. He was a founder and VP of engineering at Entropic, acquired by Microsoft in 1999, and founder of VocalIQ, acquired by Apple in 2015. He was then a senior member of the Siri technical development team in Cambridge.

Livingbridge has eight new hires. Bevan Duncan (1), who worked for the firm from 2006 to 2018, returns after a period as managing director of the strategic equity division at Gresham House and then COO of financial services start-up Mintus.

James Milligan (2), Nick Crosland (3), Rob Keenan (4), Tom Gilbride (5) and Harriet Lucas-Clements (6) also join as investment managers; Amelia Hunt (7) as investment associate; and Toby Atkinson-Coyle (8) as ESG associate. 

Milligan moves from Permira. Prior to that he spent seven years with KPMG, training in audit then moving into transaction services. Crosland comes from New Zealand, where he worked for Direct Capital, Forsyth Barr and KPMG. Keenan worked for KPMG in Ireland for seven years. Gilbride spent two years at GP Bullhound and five at BDO, where he trained as an ACA. Lucas-Clements joins from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where she spent four years.

Hunt spent five years at PwC, where she trained as an ACA. Atkinson-Coyle comes from EY-Parthenon’s transaction services team; before that he was in risk management with JPMorgan Chase.

Cathay Capital has recruited Caroline Folleas as partner for its private equity practice in Paris from Merieux Equity Partners, a healthcare-focused fund where she spent two and a half years. Previously, she spent 13 years at L Catterton, the largest global consumer-focused fund, and before that was with BNP Paribas for seven years.